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Northeast's Top 10 ski areas

The Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire.

BY RON BERNTHAL AND MARSHALL S. BERDAN | Special to Newsday

November 4, 2007

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A lot of great resorts didn't make the list, and you may be crestfallen because your favorite isn't here.

Let us explain: We put together this list with every type of skier in mind - the double-black diamond daredevil, the bunny sloper, little kids, the once-a-season skier. There's something for everyone.

Belleayre Mountain

Some skiers think Belleayre, with its rural ambience and down-home flavor, is what skiing used to be before corporations got involved. The area is owned by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the casual, friendly spirit on the mountain hasn't changed much since it opened in 1949. Everything about the mountain is impressive, including its 3,429-foot summit; the 171 skiable acres; the extremely reasonable lift ticket and rental prices; and its proximity to the metro New York area.

Bretton Woods

In just over 35 years, Bretton Woods has gone from a wooded mountainside to a Top 10 (and New Hampshire's largest) ski resort, garnering especially high marks in grooming, service and family programs. Known primarily for its extensive and forgiving beginner and intermediate areas, Bretton Woods offers all its skiers some truly spectacular views of Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range. Befitting its ownership by the historic and opulent Mount Washington Resort, Bretton Woods caters to better-heeled and better-behaved skiers - a definite asset for families with younger children.

Jiminy Peak

When there is snow, the resort at Jiminy Peak offers a good family experience and enough trails to keep even the most avid skiers and snowboarders occupied. Jiminy Peak is the largest resort in the Berkshires and features a village-like atmosphere, with retail shops, children's programs and numerous cafes.

The Left Bank trail allows for even beginners to take a run down the entire mountain and the six-passenger high-speed chairlift can get you to the top of the mountain in five minutes.

For snowboarders, Coyote Ridge offers a quality terrain experience, including a half pipe.

The overall size of the mountain results in short lift lines. More-experienced skiers will find a challenge on Whitetail, one of three double-black diamond trails.

Killington

The self-proclaimed "Beast of the East" is truly big in all senses of the word: the biggest resort (covering seven mountains), with the greatest variety of terrain, the highest vertical drop, and the most extensive snowmaking. Not surprisingly, such attributes attract large numbers of devoted, older skiers who keep Killington as lively after hours (rated No. 1 in apres-ski by the readers of Ski Magazine) as they do during the day, when long lift lines and crowded slopes can become downright annoying. But the fact that they all keep coming back year after year demonstrates that the beast is still a real beauty of a mountain.

Loon Mountain

Only a three-hour drive from Boston, Loon is the resort of choice for twentysomethings and families whose primary objective is to hit the slopes running. As a result, the weekend and holiday crowds can sometimes make you, well, loony, though Loon does its best to keep things moving with 10 lifts.

Helping matters considerably this year will be an additional 49 acres of terrain at South Ridge, serviced by two quads. A bigger-than-average resort with better-than-average lodging, food, variety and snow conditions, Loon Mountain is one of those classic something-for-everybody places and thus a good option for those groups with mixed abilities and interests.

Smugglers' Notch

Beginning in the mid-1970s, Smugglers' Notch, on the other side of Mount Mansfield from chic and trendy Stowe, decided to concentrate on the overlooked and underserved family market. Today Smuggs, as it is commonly known, is the undisputed king of that mountain, ranked

No. 1 in North America in the family programs category by the readers of Ski Magazine for the seventh time. Covering three separate mountains, including one just for beginners, Smugglers' Notch is essentially an all-inclusive winter sports camp where family members go their own way by day and reassemble by night in the activity-laden base village.

Stowe